wait, how much?

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The day began typically enough, but before long I realized I was actually a frog in a pot of water beginning to boil...

The school day passed without difficulty. Madame arrived shortly after lunch to prepare dinner. I gave her the instructions Nicole had left and made sure she understood what we wanted. I gathered some necessary ingredients to give her. Mike had been around, but shortly after Madame finished cleaning the kitchen, he left for a meeting. At that point, Madame's daughter came to the Carlins' house with a ripped bag of mayi (corn meal) on a plate. After a short exchange, I went to get another bag as she requested. I put the ripped bag inside of a new ziploc so that the mayi wouldn't spill everywhere. The confusion on her face quickly registered in my brain and informed me that I must have misunderstood something.

Upon further clarification, I realized she needed more mayi. Thus a mayi search was initiated throughout the land... I checked the freezer in the Carlins' house (even though I knew I wouldn't find any there). I looked in the guest house kitchen. Madame's daughter asked Paul, who cooks for the staff here. He didn't have any mayi either. I even went so far as to locate Nicole's number in the states to ask her if she knew where else to look. The outcome: we didn't have any more. We did have some more finely ground corn meal, which I tried to give to Madame. Without hesistation, she declared it wouldn't work. Out to Plan B courtesy of Nicole, I asked Madame to make as much Mayi Moulin (similar to grits with black beans and some additional flavoring) as she could and then prepare some white rice and bean sauce for the additional dinner guests. She didn't like that idea. However, Madame's daughter said that Paul could purchase some mayi if I had money to give him.

Now I'm rushing down the driveway to find Paul and determine how much money he needs. He was sitting in his little chair at the end towards the end of the driveway, surrounded by the men who had been laying block for the new wall and by some conversational neighbors. A hush fell when I told Paul I had a question for him. He agreed that he could buy some mayi without problem. Another breakdown in commuication occurred when I asked how much he thought he'd need. He wasn't entirely sure, but quoted 30 goudes as being more than enough and said he could return the change. I understood 30 goudes, but knew I must have heard incorrectly because it was such a small amount. Hence the reason, I asked him to repeat the number at least 3 more times. By the last time, the group was saying the number together and converting it to Haitian dollars for me in case that would help me better understand. As I walked away, I just wished I could explain WHY I was struggling with the amount. The fact is that 30 goudes is less than 1 American dollar. My brain couldn't accept that such a small amount of money would be enough for the necessary mayi. Nevertheless, I gathered 35 goudes (...I mean my brain couldn't handle such a little sum) and took it out to Paul with a container. He returned with 10 goudes in change and a plenty of mayi for dinner.

After delivering the mayi to Madame Gabriel and confirming that she now had enough, I began reflecting on the course of events that had transpired in the previous 30 minutes. (Yes that's all it took, but it felt more like 3 hours.) Despite speaking Kreyol with Haitians, I had momentarily forgotten that I was currently living in Haiti where merchandise is generally cheaper than in the states. Once I made that mental connection, the rest of the events made sense. I then followed the example of the people on whom I was relying... I laughed and shook my head, just one of many times over the course of the week.

Crisis averted. And of course, dinner was a hit with our guests.